A Peculiar Encounter
by C. O. Rosette
Summary: Just a one-shot about what both babies that the main group has cared would think if they ever were to come into contact with each other for even just a moment.


Through the snow, a young man youthfully trudges. He wears a tight set of beige robes and tough, mammoth-skin boots well equipped for the journey he was sent on and has hair much like his father as people in his tribe often tell him. He hears footsteps behind him. He instinctively raises the sharpened spear he carries with him. He can only make out a faint figure heading toward him through the blinding snow. It's humanoid and though she does seem to be bearing a weapon, a spear much like his from the looks of it, she doesn't exactly seem to be presenting it in a threatening fashion. He lets out a breath and drops his weapon. It's just his friend, A'akuluujjusi.

"Roshan!" his friend runs to him and embraces him, her full figure finally revealing her full form as she approaches. She wears similar attire as he does as it is a uniform symbol of their tribe. The spear she carries with her is a bit different than his, though. She holds it out to him. "Your dad said this would be more useful wherever you're going, just in case you run into faster prey or stronger predators than we normally encounter on your expedition."

"Thanks Ku, but it's not really an expedition. All I'm really doing is scouting ahead to make sure it's safe and then hopefully finding some food as a bonus. But this spear does look to be more suited for a job like this. Thank you. You always seem to know the best things about what to bring so you'll always be prepared," Roshan replies and eagerly swaps his generic, dark, arrowhead spear for the more special, bamboo spear that's only used by the tribe on important occasions. Before leaving camp, Roshan was so aflame to go on this mission that he just picked any old spear off the pile without really thinking. Now he's very glad his father sent Ku to deliver him a more advanced one. Unlike the regular arrowhead, this spear has a wide tip that thins up as the spear is pulled out of it's victim. It's the last fatal blow to the already doomed game, sort of a mercy-killing, so to speak. Yes, Roshan thinks to himself. This will definitely be more useful where I'm going.

Ku giggles, obviously flattered by the unexpected shower of compliments, "Don't thank me, thank your father! He's the one who knows all that stuff about weapons and lots more!"

"Well, I can't argue with that, but thanks for delivering this to me for him anyway," Roshan speaks with genuine honesty.

"Roshan, you're going on a very important mission. I want to be able to help you in any way I can. But it's all up to you now," Ku affirms and hugs Roshan again. "Good luck," she whispers into his ear and pulls away, running back to camp with one last wave goodbye. Roshan turns back around and continues his trek into the unknown, intent on finding out what it has to offer.

* * *

Little does Roshan know, walking nearly adjacent to his trajectory path, a young mammoth named Peaches trudges away from her herd, intent on finding her own adventure, far from this boring herd that doesn't do anything. She maybe knows she can easily sneak away from her parents and her Uncle Sid and the possums. The majority of the herd is currently intensely engrossed in their food. Geez, Peaches thinks to herself. It's just grass. They eat it _every day. _Oh well, at least she can just walk off without a problem.

The hard part is getting out of range of her parents' friend, Diego the saber-tooth tiger. He's always the most alert one (and probably the also most sane, Peaches thinks) and has impeccable smell. He's the only one not eating. He is snoozing on a rock not far from the herd. If she could just slip past him...Her only hope is to tiptoe by, unheard, in hopes that she doesn't disturb him. Well, this is it, she thinks and shuts her eyes. She holds her breath in, taking each step as small as she possibly can. When she thinks she's finally past him, she opens her eye sneak a peak, but doesn't expect his nose to be right in front of her eye! He snorts in her face. Startled by the unexpected noise, Peaches let's out a frightened squeal, rears back her body so that her colossal legs are revving in front of her, and takes off as fast as she can down the trail. "Say whuh?" Diego drowsily lifts his head in confusion just as Peaches disappears from sight. He peacefully sinks back into sleep, deciding it was nothing.

Peaches gazes at the scenery before her. The sun beats down over mountains of ice that breach the far edges of the sanctuary the herd of multiple animals reside within. She's always heard stories from her family about what is beyond those mountains. On the outside, all their descriptions of the place were pretty much the same thing, really nothing but snow and ice, maybe a few cool caves and animals, but nothing that can compare to the lush greenery, land, water, volcanoes, and dinosaur underworld that they have right where they call home. To Peaches, these depictions of the outside world sound boring but at the same time...intriguing.

Peaches holds up her long, furry, brown trunk and takes a deep, long, whiff of the fresh scent of the ice, beckoning her over into it's eternal realm...and takes off down the path once more. She's so eager to find the ice that she doesn't get winded from the long run over small hills. She doesn't even care if anyone hears her awkward hobble into the unknown, and feels as if her stubby, mammoth feet are floating above the ground, carrying her closer and closer to that crack between the two mountains that lead to the never ending land of ice. But when she finally reaches her destination, she starts to slow down, her uneven-footed jog transforming back into it's familiar, casual stroll. The crack between those two large boulders revealing the outside world is coming ever so closer with each step.

Peaches stops in her tracks the very moment she reaches the crack. She peers into the white world before. Is she really going to do this? If she does, there's no turning back. There's something else, though. Something is distracting her from actually setting foot in the snow. She's not sure if it's just the swirling snowflakes from an upcoming blizzard playing tricks on her eyes, but for a split second, she almost thinks she sees a slender figure through the snow, but it is quickly covered by the whiteness. She raises her trunk yet again to make sure she wasn't just imagining things. It's faint, but a very distinct scent coming from afar. It is unlike anything Peaches has ever encountered before.

Suddenly, a giant wave of surprisingly harsh snow whips Peaches right in the face like a tree branch her possum friends always like to whap her with, sending her to fall backwards onto her haunches. She shuts her eyes tight and hears a loud scraping sound that hurts he ears and makes her shut her eyes even tighter. She sits there, shivering for a bit, alarmed by the spontaneous event. When she finally opens her eyes and unstiffens her body, she realizes that the two boulders she was just peeking through a few seconds ago are now stuck together like glue, closing the gap between them, and leaving exit from the sanctuary unaccessible. Peaches is blocked from the ice and whatever she saw within it. What _was _that thing? That figure in the snow that Peaches saw was unlike anything she's ever seen before, even if it was for only a moment. It's skinny, yet at the bulky figure served to be exceptionally strange and also a bit scary. Maybe it's a good thing that the boulders closed when they did. Maybe Peaches isn't ready to come into contact with these abnormal creatures. But that _SCENT! _It was so foreign, so _alien! _A small hint of sorrow befalls the young mammoth as she realizes that she now can never find out anymore about what that thing is. It was almost like she and it have had some sort of history with it even though she's never smelt anything like it before.

Suddenly, Peaches hears a faint rustling in the plants behind her. Uh-oh! She's not being followed, is she? She spins around in circles, scanning the area for Sid or the possums. "Hey! Peaches!" Peaches spins the other way towards the voice to see the familiar face of the molehog she knows so well. Peaches sighs in relief. It's just her friend, Louis.

"Hey," she greets him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to come and find you," Louis answers. "No one knew where you went. You sort of just disappeared."

"About that..," Peaches mutters glancing back at the two boulders.

Louis notices this and comments, "Funny, I don't remember those boulders were touching like that. Uh, anyway, Peaches, we should go. Our herd will be worried about us."

"Oh, right. Yeah. Let's go," Peaches absentmindedly replies, giving the boulders one last glance before turning around and heading back to the herd with Louis in tow.

* * *

Roshan struggles through the harsh snow as the storm gets stronger and it gets harder and harder to go on. Just when he's beginning to decide to turn back, he sees a crack of sunlight shining through the blindness and reflecting off the snow. The place he's looking for with infinite food and resources! He's finally there! Immediately, he abandons all thoughts of hopelessness and starts running towards the light. He readies his spear. He can see it all now as he peers through the blinding light and into the safe haven that he and his tribe will spend the rest of their days. It's exactly like he imagined, green trees and grass everywhere, not a single predator in sight, and plenty of things to build shelters with.

But there is one thing that catches his eye and even startles him a little. What seems to be peering back at him through the crack appears to be a wooly mammoth. Just then, another wave of snow sweeps over Roshan, knocking him onto his back just in time for him to hear a booming crash. He immediately springs up, expecting an avalanche, but only sees white. The snow has covered up his only entrance into his new home. The storm is too strong now, Roshan can barely feel his own hands anymore. He knows he has to turn back. This is a hopeless case. He turns around to the direction of home.

When Roshan gets back to his tribe to tell them the bad news, they enclose him with comforting murmurs that he'll do better when the storm lifts up and they'll find another way in. Roshan honestly doesn't mind that he couldn't get in that much. He realizes that what he saw inside is a thing of beauty. The mammoth that he saw wasn't a big one, in fact she looked quite young, and there was something about her eyes that spoke to him. He almost feels like he had a kind of connection with this animal. He's seen mammoths before, full grown ones in fact. But this one just feels different. His parents told him stories when he was little of how he was lost when he was just an infant and rescued by a wooly mammoth who then brought him back to the tribe. Could this be why he feels the way he does about this young mammoth between the boulders? Roshan can't be sure, but he does know that this was a significant encounter that he will not soon forget.


End file.
